Jay, take a look at Rufus Phillips book, Why Vietnam Matters. Phillips worked for Lansdale and with Bohannon. At last count he was still alive and living in N. VA. and would be worthwhile to interview.
Cheers
JohnT
Jay, take a look at Rufus Phillips book, Why Vietnam Matters. Phillips worked for Lansdale and with Bohannon. At last count he was still alive and living in N. VA. and would be worthwhile to interview.
Cheers
JohnT
John,
Nice reference. I have ordered a copy and look forward to going through it in detail. Vietnam went bad from the start, so I look forward to learning more about the start. From the blurbs on Amazon though, It sounds to me that Rufus argued for better tactics, but IMO promoted the same flawed strategy of creating a separate Southern state to counterbalance a Northern state. I still believe we would have been best served by out-competing China to champion a unified state, regardless of the Communist government it had at the time. I think this would have prevented the extremes that government ultimately had to resort to to overcome the obstacle of US intervention to prevent a unified Vietnam. We'll never know. The Mid 50s were a scary time for US foreign policy, and I appreciate why men like Lansdale and Phillips pushed for what they did. I just don't think it was the right thing, and that blaming ultimate failure of such approaches on the tactics that were later applied to secure an unsustainable condition is to me missing the main point.
Bob
Robert C. Jones
Intellectus Supra Scientia
(Understanding is more important than Knowledge)
"The modern COIN mindset is when one arrogantly goes to some foreign land and attempts to make those who live there a lesser version of one's self. The FID mindset is when one humbly goes to some foreign land and seeks first to understand, and then to help in some small way for those who live there to be the best version of their own self." Colonel Robert C. Jones, US Army Special Forces (Retired)
John,
I've read Rufus's book, and interviewed him. Great guy and full of insight. They did a wonderful job with his book, too.
JSR
The Rosaldos’ stuff (Michelle and Renato) might reference sources of use to you. Ilongot headhunting is an interesting read regardless.
If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)
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